Just got a call from him. Felt suspicious right off so I asked questions amongst his questions.  Said his name was "Mark Vallega" and even voluntarily spelled the last name. Said he was from southwest Pennsylvania. Later said he trained under Master Lopez in Williamsport PA. Williamsport is not in southwest PA, and I found no trace of a Lopez martial arts school in that area using google.  I think he used Lopez simply due to the popular Lopez TKD family. As with others, a lot of weird questions about favorite kicks, knockouts, how I'd land a certain kick, and forms. He said he'd been in taekwondo for 5 years.  The strange thing is that he's doing some weird research before calling.  First thing he asked was if I was on *#*#* street.  Uh, *#*#* is my home address where my billing goes to, and not my business address. Have no idea how he came up with that. Also he's looking at the traditional style taught at each gym and asking questions about it.  We do tons of MMA here, but no questions about that. As with others, he's got a brother in town so decided to move closer to him.  Mentioned doing private classes during the day, when's a good time to call back, and that he had to go to work.  I called the number back and the voicemail said "this is Mark. Can't wait to talk to you."  The 212 wikipedia article is very interesting too. It was one of the original area codes, people purchase it to make their business seemed established, in August 2010 AT&T said there are no new numbers available in that area code, and it's the borough of Manhattan in NYC.

Hello again all.

Ever since a coworker and I called this guy back and gave him a hard time, he hasn't called our studio, however we merged with another martial arts studio a while back, basically absorbing them, but we kept their old number as a secondary line. He called that number, but we did not pick up. Anyways, this reignited my passion to figure him out.

Now I know that websites like 4chan have really scary knowledgeable users that can find ANYTHING out about ANYONE. I don't exactly know how to go about approaching them, however. I imagine the users on Reddit could figure it out, but I don't know how to go about that either. Do any of you have any experience with this kind of thing? Given the right post on either site, I imagine we could figure out exactly who this person is.

Just advertised the new Kwoon here in Brandon MS  

This guy calls saying he's studied Hung gar and shotokan and starts asking questions.

Not sure what his deal is.  

Just received a call from this number and have had the same experience as the people on this board. He is still out there and I see he has been doing this since 2009. Wow. Asked all kinds of questions about WTF Taekwondo, says he is a black belt and is down here because his brother owns a business. A little suspicious, it was a New York phone number but he said he is from Pensylvania. Weird. When I told him my class schedule really did not seem interested. Count that off as a weird call. For those of you out there, he is still trolling around.

Well, this guy called my studio in Naples FL last night.  Called himself Chris, although at first I could not get him to give me his name.  I expected that he was legit because he claimed to have been a Tae Kwon Do student and used some Korean terms.  He probably talked to me for 50 minutes asking about sparring combinations and targets.  Then he hung up and called back 10 minutes later with more questions.  He basically asked the same questions repeatedly and eventually asked something about whether or not beachgoers "liked to show off their bodies" and if you hit someone in their six pack whether or not it would hurt.  Then I figured there was something weird with this guy.  I just called and asked to speak with him and he hung up.  If I hear back from him I will make sure to let him know that he is not to stop by.  Thanks for the information.

This guy is still active.  He identified himself as Ray the first time he called.  He asked the same weird questions as well.  Called back the next day with a different name.  I told him I spoke to him or someone from that number about it already and he quickly hang up.

Very weird indeed.

Mark is calling again.  Called today saying he had just moved to the area and was wanting to start training and had a black belt in TKD from WTF.  Asked the same questions that he has been asking everyone else.   I remembered him after getting off the phone with him.  He has called many times before a few years back and I had told him to stop calling.  I tried to call him back but no answer left him a message about how he was calling all the different martial arts places and told him never call my business again.

Looks like this guys is back at it.  Got a call from him a couple of days ago and spent a couple of minutes talking with him. Same MO: new to town, looking to train, this time said he had a black belt in TKD wanted to know how my style related to TKD.  Then conversation got wierd, asking about specific techniques, would I throw a ridgehand to the body, favorite kick, then I noticed the noise in the background and he said he was at work and had to go.  I was busy at the time and didn't think much of it but couple days later I remembered the call and googled it.  Well looks like he is back at it.  Last post here  was in 2011, so maybe he decided to take a break for a while then get back into it.  This guy is just a wierdo so ignore the call.

This dbag called me and asked for directions to my place. Non-committal and full of crap with every breath that comes out of his mouth. He's called before. He probably gets some kind of pleasure calling places.

Just got a call in Smithville, MO. I also run a WTF TKD school. Didn't answer, and glad I didn't after what I've read here.

he ask how long school is open for?  very strange feeling....

I received a call from him probably about a year and a half ago, then another today.  He opened the conversation by saying he recently moved to the area and wanted to know where we were located because he had trained in ITF and earned his black belt and was from New Hamshire.  He also wanted to know the differences between the forms.  I mentioned a few differences, and he was wanted to be very specific, like "does that strike generally go to the midsection?" etc.  I asked his name, where he was from, how long ago since he trained, etc.  Eventually I asked if I had spoken to him before and he said no very quickly and certainly.  He then mentioned that he would have to call me back.  While he was off the line I searched for the phone number and found this.  When I asked who he was after he called back he said Chris.  I asked was he sure if his name wasn't Mark Schachter, or Alex, he said no to each.  So for a second time I said "well, I'm pretty sure you've called here before" and before I could ask him about his fixation on calling schools he said "oh, maybe I did, I'm sorry" and hung up.

Got several phone calls from this guy who claims to have experiance and recently moved to the area. Just the same as everyone else this guy calling himself "Chris" needs a lot of help. Kept asking the same questions over and over again if he calls again I'm going to ask him to stop calling. I already gave him the times we have sparring class if he wants he can come and spar I'd be more than happy I'm sure some other people would too.

I own a Taekwondo school in Idaho and got a call from this number before hours.  He didn't leave a message, but when I called back I got a voice mail identifying the home number for "Mark".  I won't bother answering if I see the prefix again.

Sorry, I'm NKS in TN not M. Schatcher. Sorry for post confusion.

I got the same call from 2125810429 yesterday, 2 times in a row. He would only say that he had the wrong number but when I answered on the third call instead of my wife he asked questions about our style and mention that he was Goju-Ryu. He asked if we taught Sanchin. I listed the kata and he said it wasn't necessary.

I called him back today and asked for the name attached to the caller id and he said I had the wrong number and hung up.

Something is up with this guy. I'll be contacting.. someone

This guy called our school in Edmonton, AB, Canada and asked a bunch of odd questions..

This is pretty creepy that he is calling schools across north america acting like a crazy person.

One of my staff just got off the phone with this guy!  A total wacko!

He just called my Martial Arts School in Edmonton. Asked the same things others say. He just wasts alot of my time

He just called me in CA where I run a Karate dojo. He's now using the alias Ray.

This guy called to get info about my services about 2 hours ago.  After asking the same questions over and over about the "best ways to knock out an opponent", he said his boss was calling him and he had to go.  Since then, he has called my phone 16 times...literally.  

CREEPY!!!!!!!!

Yes, just missed a call from him- glad I checked with this site before answering!

I just wanted to share some info with you. I like many others have gotten many calls and finally called the PA state troopers. They said I have to inform him to stop calling me and if keeps it up then legally its harassment.

I have been getting 3 calls a day for about a week. Asking technique questions, combinations, what my personal accomplishments and credentials were. My wife who is a 5th Dan answered one night and volunteered to answer questions and he got real angry and only wanted to talk to me. He said his name is Chris and keeps claiming he wants to take classes. I finally reported it and the phone number to the Pennsylvania State Police. I will ask him to stop calling - hopefully he does.

I am a club owner in nova scotia canada .. he called me and asked if we had tkd classes for adults
and asked if we were wtf or itf

then asked if we did tournaments, and if the rules have changed alot since he last competed 6 months,
i then asked him what he thought the rules were (and he was correct) and then he told me he went to watch a local competition in las vegas 6 weeks ago

said he was interetsed in fighitng again,he said he was 175lbs and the just moved to town and was living with his brother while he was looking for work.

said he trained at master lees taekwondo Pen, and master lee was a fifth dan

he asked for directions to the club and i told him he said he new where it was

later on i was a little creeped out by the call
soo i googled his number  and found this page

called him back... and ask for chris  and the guy said wrong number and hung up

He called back, and my boss answered. I heard him answering that he had moved into the area and wanted to take martial arts, but I realized who it was and had my boss hang up on him. He called back immediately, so I answered and once again confronted him. I said "I don't remember any of your other aliases Mark Schachter, you call here all the time, why do you always ask these questions?" His response was "Well because I'm interested in taking martial arts at your facility." So I followed up with "Do you realize there are hundreds (yes I know it's hyperbole) of people online who post what you say to all of them in a forum?" and he said "Thank you" and hung up. Obnoxious. This time it was at about noon, making it 3pm New York time (Where the caller ID says he is from) but last time it was 10pm there time, and I called at midnight there time...so unless he works a crazy swing shift at some marketing research facility I can't imagine he's anything but a weirdo. I have said this before as well - I have done my own research, such as calling other studios to find out about their style, or their prices, and if he was trying to do that, he would have to ask some very different questions. The most alarming is the report where he told a girl he wanted to eat her. I wonder if this would all be considered harassment?

I have a MMA school in South Ga. When he called I assumed he was a telemarketer by his N.Y. phone number but after speaking to him for a moment I realized he wasn't. But overall he was just weird asked alot of basic questions about my gym and he was interesting in training and that he had a black belt in okinawan karate. After speaking with him I decided to google the number to see if anything came up. This was the first search result - I was kinda freaked out at this point. But then he called right back. I mention to him that I had google his number and I wanted to know what he was up to. He said said he didn't know what I was talking about and he guessing he wont try training at my place. Btw he said his name was Chris.

Called back, this time with a bit more information from the rest of the commenters. I called, he said hello, and I asked

"Hello, is this Mark Schachter?"

"no."

"Is this Chris Cutrone?"

"no" a bit of a worried sound in his voice this time.

"Is this Alex?"

And with that he hung up. It doesn't seem that he is with a company or he wouldn't have answered at 12:30 am. He has to be just a creepo, as I stated before he does not ask any correct questions if he is trying to gather information on us. And why would he use his personal number? It's all just very shady.

I, like the rest of you, work at a martial arts studio. He has called probably 5 or 6 times now, and to be honest it didn't sound like he was gathering info for any business or anything, it seems more like he's getting off on chatting up people about martial arts. He isn't asking any of the right questions if he is an industry insider - he really seems to be just a creep. I didn't mind the first few times because I didn't recognize his voice til the end, but this time he took me away from time I should have been spending on legitimate customers. If you get a call from him just hang up.

Called, said he moved to my town recently, wanted to take TKD classes, sounded like he was in a call center, and when i pressed him on that issue, he hung up on me.  definately a wackadoo.   called himself chris cutrone.

he got my number off of yellow pages.